'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎49r] (102/706)

BANEH
85
governor of the adjoin'ng district in Turkish territory " Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. ” which is a
contraction of Padishah.
The district was in 1910 occupied by the Turks. It was under the
Government of the Kurdistan province through the sub-governorship of
Sauj Bulagh.
In 1912 the Turks were reported to have evacuated it.
The bululc has 200 villages and a Sunni population of over 30,000, paying
until a few years ago yearly taxes amounting to 56,000 krdns, now (1911) more.
The buluk is well wooded with oak, and the various products of that tree,
principally galls, are exported in great quantities. As these products are
easily gathered, the people easily earn money and, not caring much for agri
cultural pursuits, which entail hard work, they sow grain only sufficient for
their wants. All the men are well armed and are good shots. Most of their
clothes are made of stuffs woven locally of wool of sheep and goats and
called “ ehal ”, and some of these are of very fine texture. The people of
Baneh speak the Mukri dialect of Kurdish. There is a large number of
Jews in the district—pedlars and petty merchants.
Partridge abound in this district, particularly in some hills called Kuh-i-
Shikar, where there is a narrow pass a farsakh in length. In the proper sea
son the Governor gets all the people of the buluk to drive the birds into
the pass and the birds are then slaughtered “ in' millions, ” enough to supply
the population with food for three days. The inhabited portion of the vil
lages is comuonly a mere kernel, enclosed in a mass of vineyards and
orchards. Each house forms a portion of a small block, divided off by narrow,
ill-paved lanes,—never as much as 20 feet broad, and often less than 10 feet:
each has a central court or yard, a high wall and strong gate facing the lane,
and high walls on the other three sides : beyond the court is usually a small
patch of garden. Of the better class of houses, a large proportion are two-
storeyed, with upper windows looking on to the lane. The walls of all
are built of very hard mud. With a double storey the height is about 20
feet; the lower walls 3 feet thick, upper 2 feet; the roof flat, with 6 beams of
poplar, varying in length from 10 to 15 feet, covered with a thin layer of
mud. A parapet wall of mud, bullet-proof, runs round each roof. Such
buildings would afford no protection against shot, but would be difficult to
fire. Bazar shops cover less ground. The vineyards or orchards or (locally)
gardens extend for more than a mile round the larger villages, being thickest
on the line of irrigation.
They cover from 2 to about 10 acres of ground, are thinly planted, and
enclosed by solid mud walls, of 12 to 15 feet high, with a single small gate.
Narrow lanes and watercourses wind through, and about them, affording
very indifferent communicatons. Though the height of the garden walls
and the thinness of the cover within them detract from their defensive value,
they might, with some little labour, be converted into an excellent screen
very difficult to penetrate in the face of even disciplined opposition.
The tract about Baneh and between it and Maragheh is fairly supplied with
forage. Fuel is plentiful and water easily procured. Carriage in any
quantity is not to be found. There are no large droves of camels, and but few
mules.— {Napier; Schindler.)